So that’s what it’s like to be part of a money bomb. Neat. I wasn’t a Paul supporter so I didn’t get to join in the fun before.

So there’s a money bomb type thing happening today at the AccountabilityNow PAC, which is dedicated to challenging elected officials who don’t think that defending the Constitution is important. Specifically, it’s a collaborative effort between some of the Ron Paul folks and a some liberal die-hard civil rights blogger activists to stand up to the shitbags that pushed the FISA compromise, letting the telecoms get away with violating America’s civil rights, and giving the Bush administration a big thumbs up for violating the 4th Amendment. Bipartisan and opposed to the surveillance state? I’m good with that, so I threw ‘em a few bucks. Feel free to chip in if this kinda thing’s important to you.

But maybe it’s not, and you’re becoming more and more anxious as election season progresses, fearing that you’ll end up in a discussion with someone passionate about some candidate, party, or issue that you just couldn’t give less of a rat’s ass about. The good folks at Today Now! addressed this very topic a few mornings ago, I figure it’s only neighborly of me to post the segment.

Dear Congress and Senate: Fuck You.

I know that this kind of thing drives John Cole crazy, so please don’t misconstrue this as an attack on Obama solely. And it’s not like I’m going to give my vote to McCain behind this, or even stay home. I’ll certainly give money to Obama’s campaign, I may even volunteer.

But not today. Not for Obama, not for the Democratic Senators that voted against amendments to strip telecom immunity from the bill, not for Democrats that supported this subversion of our Constitutional rights and gave another victory to an outlaw administration. Certainly not one fucking dime or phone call for any organization that might channel resources to Steny “Fucking” Hoyer. No, today I’m going to do a little grieving over a couple beers, maybe pour some out for another measure of lost liberty (which I think we can all agree is no longer a “phantom”, Mr. Ashcroft).

Tomorrow, I’m going to give some money to these guys. From here on out, my political focus is on fighting these bastards who care so little for the civil liberties which I hold dear. You wanna talk about guns or welfare or immigration or energy or abortion? They’re important issues to discuss, but all of those discussions are built on the bedrock of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The War on Drugs is in dire need of reform, but what’s the point in even debating drug policy, or any issue of criminal law, if it’s not grounded on the principle that Habeas Corpus is an absolute requirement of a meaningful system of justice?

We start by restoring the Constitution and the rule of law, and then commit to squaring off with anyone, in either party, that finds it an inconvenient way to govern a nation. For me, everything else comes after.

[Update]: From commenter socalmonk at DKos:

By the time the election rolls around…
the only people left supporting Bush will be the democrats in the House and Senate.

It’s George Carlin Week for hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people, and I’m one of them. As I strolled the halls of YouTube gathering bits and pieces of old performances to savor and be grateful for, I ran across this one. Let’s enjoy a little bit of the master, and then talk about it after, shall we?

That is some nutrient-dense food for thought there, isn’t it? So why’s this commanding any more of my attention than any other particular 4 minutes of Professor Carlin’s insights?

It’s partly because I’m having a difficult time reconciling my optimism and excitement over the potential tectonic shift that an Obama presidency could affect in American politics with my bitter disappointment that only Senators Feingold and Dodd seem to give enough of a shit about the Constitution to stand on the floor of the Senate and fight like hell to stop this ass barnacle of a FISA bill. It’s depressing and disconcerting to watch so many Democrats cave on this issue. I mean, shit, there’s not even a significant political upside to giving the telecoms and the Bush administration a pass. The American people had their Constitutional rights systematically violated by Bush and the telcos, by some accounts as many as 7 months before 9/11, which sure seems like something that sits pretty squarely on the bad side of a bright line.

I also know that this would be a non-starter if our Senators knew for a fact that the American people wouldn’t stand for it. But the only real resistance is coming from a small (yet very vocal and surprisingly effective) minority of citizens who pay close enough attention to know what this fight’s about. If we thought of ourselves as citizens responsible for our government instead of consumers entitled to crazy low prices, or an audience craving entertainment, this wouldn’t be happening. But it is.

To put it another way, James Inhofe didn’t get to the Senate by accident. He is Oklahoma. To put it yet another way, we got an administration run by 4 year olds because we wanted it, and we got it good and hard.

The other chord this bit strikes in me relates to a conversation I had with someone about the late Tim Russert. I was chatting with a woman at a toddler birthday party last weekend, a D.C. local whose family has been involved in liberal Democratic politics for years and years. In the course of our discussion, she brought up that she was pretty broken up about Tim Russert, and what a great journalist she thought he was. I replied that, with respect, I wasn’t a fan of his “gotcha” style interview, and that I didn’t think much of him as a journalist after his testimony at the Libby trial, in which he admitted that discussions with government officials were off the record unless they said they wanted to be on the record. I also brought up the Mary Matalin note from Scooter Libby’s trial where she claimed that the best way for Cheney to get his message out and control it was to go on Meet The Press.

She gave a standard sort of apology for this kind of journalism, saying that they all do that, otherwise they lose their access to those officials. I countered that real journalists, like Sy Hersh for example, don’t need or want that kind of access, that real journalism is the result of doing real investigation. Tim Russert, I concluded, was a member of the court, and was primarily a performer.

This woman then gave me a knowing kind of smile, and remarked to me how great she thought it was that I’m so idealistic about journalism. I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if she’d pinched my fucking cheeks. And this was coming from a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.

So there it is, garbage in, garbage out. If 95% of the American public doesn’t know anything about the fight over the FISA bill, then their Reps and Senators will pay no penalty for not caring about it either. Garbage in, garbage out. If the ones who do know something about it just don’t think that telcos sharing private information about our communications with an illegal government spying program is that big of a deal, then why would our elected officials oppose it? Garbage in, garbage out.

And though I miss the full hour, commercial free McNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS, I can’t blame any organization for its demise. They simply got out-competed by a trend toward celebrity journalism that’s seeped into every aspect of our media. There was no cabal that killed real broadcast journalism, we did that. One of the aspects of the whole open-society, free-market of ideas thing is that it’s up to us whether we want real analysis and policy discussions, or a dazzling theatrical performance with romance, fireworks, and buffoonery. We’ve chosen to be entertained, and both the performers and the audience are us.

So the next time you see one of those factoids about how we’re falling behind the the rest of the developed world in education, civil rights, and quality of life, remember this. Our government is made of us. Our media is made of us. And we suck.

Note: I’ve made several little edits for grammar and clarity. I suck too.

Ladies and Gentleman, give it up for California!

Accordingly, insofar as the provisions of sections 300 and 308.5 draw a distinction between opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples and exclude the latter from access to the designation of marriage, we conclude these statutes are unconstitutional.

Here’s a great big Fuckin’-A! for equal marriage rights, and for Californians. My wife and I were married in Santa Cruz, so I feel like my marriage has become that much more legitimate.

And finally, to folks disappointed by this decision, and feel that it threatens the institution of marriage… I understand why you might feel this way, but I can’t sympathize. Your efforts to deny people in loving, committed relationships from realizing the legal and societal benefits of tying the knot have failed, and I couldn’t be happier.

And really, if your marriage could be threatened by this, it means your partner is already gay. There’s nothing you can do about that, but you’re welcome to stay married to them if you want to.

Or, The Country Formerly Known As The United States. Apologies to the rest of the world, I’m hoping our paranoid, neurotic bender is coming to an end, but you may want hold off on visiting for another year or so while we sort this out.

This should be a lesson to any American tempted to let our government cross the bright lines laid out by the Constitution, a document created by political philosophers who mistrusted concentration of power, and despised tyranny. Never trust anyone who says, “Trust me, this is for your own good.”

Update: Good Lord. I’m sure there’s a gray area between State Sanctioned Assholery and Human Rights Violation. I am certain that drugging people without their consent and a valid medical reason isn’t anywhere close to that area.

Add this to the list of shit I can’t believe we, as a nation and a people, do (and that I, as a person, am being billed for). Right up at the top of the list of things that are important to me in this election, next to bringing our troops home and pushing hard for energy independence, is how we’re going to turn America back into America again. It seems to me that before we get all excited about the big plans for a Progressive Remodel, we’re going to have to deal with all the broken, rotten shit the previous occupants have left us to clean up.